Portraits of the Negro Leagues: A visual look at some of the great players who made up the league

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From 1896 through 1946, no blacks were allowed to play in the major leagues. Shut out by the white establishment, black players formed their own leagues. It was a fascinating era of American sports that had a profound impact on baseball, as well as America's social and moral development.

Here are profiles of some of the great players who made up the Negro Leagues:

LeRoy 'Satchel' Paige

Pitcher
Negro Leagues: 1926-1947
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1971

Paige is the best-known player to come out of the Negro Leagues. This tall, lanky right-hander employed masterful pitching skill with a colorful personality to achieve folk-hero status.

He was the consummate showman. He sometimes would pull in the outfielders to sit behind the mound while he struck out the side. He was advertised as guaranteed to strike out the first nine batters he faced in exhibition games and almost always fulfilled his billing. Paige frequently warmed up by throwing 20 straight pitches across a chewing gum wrapper used as home plate.

It is estimated that Paige pitched 2,600 games, 300 shutouts and 55 no-hitters.

Some major leaguers, including Joe DiMaggio, called Paige the toughest pitcher they had ever faced.

Paige was offered a contract to play for the Indians and, at age 42, became the oldest rookie in major league history. He helped Cleveland to the 1948 World Series title. He appeared in the All-Star games of 1952 and 1953. Paige was thought to be 59 (his true age was never established) when he pitched three innings for the Kansas City A's, becoming the oldest man to pitch in a major league game.

He became the first Negro Leagues star inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I sure get a laugh when I see in the papers where some major league pitcher says he gets a sore arm because he pitches every four days. Man, that'd be just a vacation for me." — Satchel Paige.

Joshua 'Josh' Gibson

Catcher
Negro Leagues: 1930-1946
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1972

Called the 'Black Babe Ruth,' Gibson was black baseball's greatest slugger. His tape-measure home runs came so frequently that they were seen as the norm. He is credited with hitting 962 home runs, including 75 in 1931, 69 in 1934 and 84 in 1936.

He also hit for average, compiling a .354 lifetime batting average in the Negro Leagues while winning four batting titles. In exhibition games against white major leaguers, Gibson hit over .400.

Gibson's hitting overshadowed his defense.

Washington Senators Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson said of Gibson: "There's a catcher that any big-league club would buy for $200,000. He can hit the ball a mile. He catches the ball so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair. Throws like a rifle."

While still clinging to hopes of playing major league ball, Gibson suffered a fatal stroke only a month after his 35th birthday. He became the second Negro Leagues star inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Buck O'Neil

Born the grandson of a slave, O'Neil played 12 seasons in the Negro Leagues, never having a chance to play in the majors.

His career spanned eight decades and covered the full spectrum — From player to manager to scout. In 1962, the Chicago Cubs made him the first black coach in major league baseball, a full 13 years before the first black manager in the league.

"It's not so much that he put that suffering behind him as that he brought gold and light out of bitterness and despair. He is one of the greatest human beings who has ever walked this earth." — Documentarian Ken Burns

James 'Cool Papa' Bell

Center fielder
Negro Leagues: 1922-1950
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1974

Contemporaries considered Bell the fastest man in baseball history. He was once clocked rounding the bases in an astounding 12 seconds. He was so fast that gold medalist Jesse Owens refused to race him.

Satchel Paige once said, "Cool Papa could turn off the lights and be in bed before the room got dark."

In exhibition games against major league competition, he compiled a .391 batting average.

Bell played until age 43, when he retired with a batting average of .341.

After his baseball career, he worked as a custodian at St. Louis City Hall, retiring in 1970.

'Smokey' Joe Williams

Pitcher
Negro Leagues: 1910-1932
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1999

A tall, lanky right-handed native of Seguin, Texas, Williams began his career pitching for the San Antonio Black Bronchos.

He was the star pitcher in the early days of the Negro Leagues. Satchel Paige called Williams the best pitcher he had ever seen.

Pitching with exceptional velocity and control, Williams would routinely reach double-digits in strikeouts, once striking out 27 Kansas City Monarchs in a 12-inning game.

Available statistics show that he compiled a 20-7 record, inducing 10 shutouts, against major league teams. Williams was voted the top pitcher in Negro League history in a 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll.

Martin Dihigo 'El Maestro'

Dihigo, born in Cuba, is the only man inducted into four national baseball halls of fame (Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States).

He played both summer and winter ball most of his career and won more than 260 games as a pitcher. In addition to pitching, he played every other position except catcher, usually batting well over .300.

Walter 'Buck' Leonard

First baseman
Negro Leagues: 1933-1950
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1972

Known as the 'Black Lou Gehrig,' Leonard was one of the best-liked players in the game. A feared hitter and exceptional fielder, he played first base for the Homestead Grays team that won nine consecutive Negro National League pennants between 1937 and 1945.

In 1939, eight years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith asked Leonard if he wanted to play in the major leagues. But nothing came of the meeting. Thirteen years later, at age 45, Leonard was offered a contract to play in the major leagues. He knew that age was against him and declined the offer.

John Henry 'Pop' Lloyd

Shortstop
Negro Leagues: 1906-1932
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1977

Asked to name the world's greatest player, a St. Louis sports writer in 1938 replied that in the majors it was Babe Ruth, but in all of baseball it was Lloyd.

Ruth agreed. He voted Lloyd the greatest player of all time.

Lloyd, a superb shortstop, often compared to Honus Wagner, hit .368 over 27 seasons. He was considered the best black player in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Willie 'Devil' Wells

Shortstop
Negro Leagues: 1928-1948
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1997

Wells, a native of Austin, combined superior batting skills, slick fielding and speed on the bases to become an eight-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues. A power-hitting shortstop with sure hands, he ranks among the all-time Negro League leaders in doubles, triple, home runs and stolen bases. He recorded a lifetime .392 batting average against major leaguers in exhibition games.

He is also credited with being the first player to wear a batting helmet. One day after being knocked unconscious by a bean ball, the story goes, Wells borrowed a hard hat before a game and wore it to the plate.

Jackie Robinson

Second baseman
Negro Leagues: 1945
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1962

The man who broke the color barrier in modern baseball began his career in the Negro Leagues.

Before playing the 1945 season with the Kansas City Monarchs, Robinson was a four-sport star at UCLA, where he excelled in football, baseball, basketball and track and field.

Baseball was considered to be his worst sport.

Oscar Charleston

Center fielder
Negro Leagues: 1915-44
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1976

In a 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll, sports writers voted Charleston the greatest Negro Leagues player of all time. A 2000 poll of former Negro League players reached the same conclusion.

He was a versatile player who batted over .300 most years. He combined speed, a strong arm and fielding instincts to become a standout center fielder. He also managed several teams during his 40-year career.

Willie Mays

Outfielder
Negro Leagues: 1948-49
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1979

Mays broke into the Negro Leagues ranks at age 16 with the Birmingham Black Barons. He played only on Sundays during the school year. After two seasons, he signed with the majors' New York Giants.

Andrew 'Rube' Foster

'Father of Negro Leagues'
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1981

Foster was born in Calvert, Texas, and began his career pitching with the Waco Yellow Jackets. Later, he moved to Chicago, where he became the most dominant pitcher in black baseball for nearly a decade.

In 1911, he formed the Chicago American Giants and built them into the midwest's dominant black team. In 1920, he organized the Negro National League.

Foster is considered the greatest manager in black baseball and the man most responsible for its success.

Effa Manley

Owner
Negro Leagues: 1935-48
Baseball Hall of Fame: 2006

As owner/manager of the Newark Eagles, Manley is the only female manager in the history of American male professional sports. She overcame racial barriers and gender bias to make her mark as one of the most significant figures on the Negro Leagues.

After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, she lost many players to the major leagues. She spoke out against raiding Negro League teams without compensating them. Despite her efforts, the Eagles had to disband in 1948.

Kennesaw Mountain Landis

Baseball's first commissioner
Baseball Hall of Fame: 1944

Landis helped keep the big leagues segregated. He ordered major leaguers to stop competing against black clubs, reportedly because he was embarrassed by losses. "They just aren't organized," Landis said of the Negro Leagues. Homestead Grays first baseman Buck Leonard replied, "We were organized, we just weren't recognized."

Negro Leagues facts

Black baseball stars played their white counterparts at least 438 times in offseason exhibition games. Their record:

After the color barrier was broken in 1947, 11 of the next 16 NL MVPs were black.

From 1947 to 1960, statistics for an average of 550 at-bats:

More than 40 percent of the Negro Leagues' players were college educated, compared with 5 percent of major league players.

The feet-first slide, shin guards, the hit-and-run play and the batting helmet all originated in the Negro Leagues.